Yukos Unit Slapped With $300M Claim

The Federal Tax Service has moved in for the first time on Samaraneftegaz, one of Yukos' three major production units, slapping it with a back tax claim of 8.5 billion rubles ($300 million) for 2002, Yukos spokesman Alexander Shadrin said Thursday.

Tax officials are probing Samaraneftegaz's finances for other years, too, he said.

No one answered the phone at the press office of the Federal Tax Service on Thursday.

The nation's biggest oil producer, Yukos, is on the verge of breakup, with the sale of its main production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, slated for Dec. 19. The controversial auction was called to force the recovery of some of the more than $20 billion in outstanding tax claims against the company.

Separately, Yugansk itself has been levied with more that $4 billion in back tax claims in a move that analysts say seemed aimed at lowering the government's sale price for the unit, which produces more than 1 million barrels per day.

The $8.65 billion starting price fixed for the Yugansk sale leaves the government room to sell Yukos' other assets as payment for the remaining tax bill.

Samaraneftegaz produces 245,000 barrels per day. The third major production unit, Tomskneft, produces about 340,000 barrels per day.

(From The Moscow Times, 12.2.2004)